Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a phenomenon that is no longer new in Kenyan business enterprises. It involves a company contracting its operations and responsibilities of specific business processes to a third party service provider.

The government’s long term development plan – Vision 2030 outlines Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) as one of the sectors to drive Kenya’s economic growth. The sector is viewed as an emerging and growing sector in Kenya expected to become the sector of choice for employment among the youth and young professionals.

The going has been very tough for the Business Process Outsourcing and Contact Centre industry in Kenya. BPO Operators have been battling to survive owing to many challenges ranging from high bandwidth costs to training costs that have failed to come down in spite of government's effort and World Bank subsidies.

As Kenya struggles to enter into the global and vibrant Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and IT Enabled Services (ITES) market, a few companies are determined to make a mark in an environment where poor infrastructure and a constraining economic environment impede investment in the outsourcing and contact centre business. One such company is Horizon Contact Centers, which according to its CEO Sanjay Sikka, is East and Central Africa’s fully on demand International Contact Centre and BPO Company.

NAIROBI, June 24 (Reuters) - When Kenyan graduate Roy Wachira, 25, set out to start his first business, he turned to the Internet, whose growth in the east African nation is spawning opportunities unthinkable even a year ago.

Competition within the mobile phone sector is forcing new entrants to change strategy by reducing their employees and turning to outsourcing in a bid to cut costs in a market that is proving difficult to penetrate.

For many developing countries, outsourcing is the ultimate get-rich-quick scheme.

The lure of the half-trillion-dollar market, 85 per cent of which is unaddressed, is irresistible. The industry has grown exponentially in the past few years, by a massive 65 per cent between 2005 and 2009.